Attorney General Creates NJ Gun Violence Reduction Task Force

Princeton NJ

15 October, 2021

10:57 AM

Description

MERCER COUNTY, NJ – Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck, recently announced the creation of a statewide gun reduction task force. The Gun Violence Reduction (GVR) Task Force will be responsible for investigating and prosecuting gun violence cases in New Jersey. Police Chiefs and County prosecutors across the state will have access to an information-sharing network that will get appropriate information to them in time. Bruck said that often information gap leads to violent criminals being left on the streets. "Over and over again, I heard that while law enforcement officers often know who is most responsible for the violence in their communities, this information does not always make its way to the prosecutors best positioned to hold these violent individuals accountable," Bruck said in a statement. "The consequences of these information gaps can be deadly: the longer that a criminal remains on the streets after committing an act of violence, the greater the likelihood that the person will act again." The task force will borrow features from the "Violent Crime Initiatives" model that exists in cities like Newark and Camden. It will include all 21 counties. The GVR task force will be divided into three teams — North, Central, and South. The North Region will operate out of Newark and will include Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties. The Central Region team will operate out of the RTCC in Trenton and include Burlington, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Somerset counties. The South Region will be based in Gloucester County and will include Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties. Each team will have four people — an assistant U.S Attorney, a deputy attorney general, an assistant prosecutor from one of the CPOs in the relevant geographic region, and a superior officer from the regional intelligence unit of the New Jersey State Police. County Prosecutors and law enforcement agencies will appoint members of their team to the task force, Bruck said. A statewide management team will oversee the task force and will hold regular meetings with regional coordinators to monitor progress, and identify and compare crime trends across regions. The Attorney General said that the involvement of all 21 state counties was important to the task force, to reduce gun violence. "A firearm trafficked into New Jersey through Salem County might wind up as the murder weapon in a Paterson homicide; a vehicle stolen in Ocean County might be used as the getaway car in a Trenton shooting," Bruck said. "By improving information-sharing across agencies, we improve our ability to solve crimes and hold wrongdoers accountable throughout the Garden State." Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email [email protected] Get breaking news alerts on your phone with our app. Download here. Sign up to get Patch emails so you don't miss out on local and statewide news.